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About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in add... (More)

About this blog: I am a native of Alameda County, grew up in Pleasanton and currently live in the house I grew up in that is more than 100 years old. I spent 39 years in the daily newspaper business and wrote a column for more than 25 years in addition to writing editorials for more than 15 years. I have served as a director of many non-profits in the Valley and the broader Bay Area and currently serve as chair of Teen Esteem and on the advisory board of Shepherd?s Gate. I also served as founding chair of Heart for Africa and have travelled to Africa seven times to serve on mission trips. My wife, Betty Gail, has taught at Amador Valley High (from where we both graduated) since 1981. She and I both graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, as did both of my parents and my three siblings. Given that Cal tradition, our daughter went south to the University of Southern California and graduated with a degree in international relations. Since graduation, she has taken three mission trips and will be serving in the Philippines for nine months starting in September. (Hide)

The valley's longest serving chamber executive retiring

Uploaded: Jun 12, 2014

A fixture in Dublin business and political circles for nearly 40 years, chamber executive Nancy Feeley is retiring this month.
Her leadership of the chamber dates to 1974, well before the city incorporated in 1981. She has seen the community more than double in population and what a retail-based business community greatly expand and diversify on the east side. Through it all, Nancy has been at the helm of the chamberjust the third person to hold that position.
She will retired at the end of this month, moving on to more grandparenting, travel and more golf. She finished her chamber golf career Monday, staging the organization's annual tournament that was held in brutal heat on the Dublin Ranch Golf Club. The course has precious few trees and virtually no shade once you leave the clubhouse.
Incidentally, Castlewood Country Club also hosted a pair of tournaments on Monday in the 100-plus degree heat, but golfers there could seek the shade of its magnificent oak trees on both courses.
It was the hottest day Nancy remembered for the chamber event, which has seen its share of varied weather. One year, it was postponed when rare thunderstorms complete with lightening made it too dangerous to playa rare occurrence in this part of California. Then there was the year at Crow Canyon Country Club when torrential showers flooded some cart pathsthe tee prize that year, fittingly, was an umbrella.
The chamber board already has replaced her with Jim Telfer who started this week with duty at the golf tournament. Telfer previously retired as chamber exec and non-profit leader. His last position was running leadership programs in the Silicon Valleyhe brings more than 30 years of non-profit management experience to Dublin.

Bay-East Realtor Association public affairs director David Stark says the data is clearthe average Pleasanton home has recovered the value it lost when real estate crashed in 2008 and 2009.
The median price (half of sales above, half below) is now $851,000above where it was at its prior height in 2007. The challenge is very limited inventoryvery few new homes have been built in Pleasanton over the last few years and there has been no incentive for the typical move-up buyer. The inventory shortage is best demonstrated with the average time on markettypically it's about 28 days in Pleasanton-currently it is half of that.
His analysis also showed that all-cash buyers are but a small factor (single-digit percentages in most of the valley) in the real estate market today.
Asked to gaze in his crystal ball about what could happen in the future, Dave cited the standard real estate axiomlocation, location, location. The location he was talking about was the Fed in Washington D.C. and when Chairwoman Janet Yellen might allow the record low interest rates to rise. rise.